St Lucia 2023

[Roy S]

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[Pigmy Pony]

Looks great, and has just the right amount of people there :)

[struth]

good to have your own gun too:D

[Roy S]

Looks great, and has just the right amount of people there :)

To be fair it’s quite early here, just sampling my second breakfast venue.

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View from the restaurant (it’s over the sea)

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[Pigmy Pony]

I'm running a bit late Roy. Can you order for me? Fluffy pancakes please :)

[Macca]

Looks great.

Any place that has steak and eggs on the breakfast menu has to be good.

[Pigmy Pony]

good to have your own gun too:D

Quite a strict immigration policy. We could do with a few of them on our shores.

[Roy S]

Looks great.

Any place that has steak and eggs on the breakfast menu has to be good.

That’s what I had with two over easy eggs, hash browns & grilled tomato (having already had English breakfast and pastries at the buffet which opened half an hour earlier than this venue)


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[Roy S]

I'm running a bit late Roy. Can you order for me? Fluffy pancakes please :)

Will sample them tomorrow for you [emoji846]

[Roy S]

good to have your own gun too:D

To repel any Germans with their eyes on the sun beds,

[Pigmy Pony]

That’s what I had with two over easy eggs, hash browns & grilled tomato (having already had English breakfast and pastries at the buffet which opened half an hour earlier than this venue)


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By now I think all these Caribbean resorts will know you well and will have bought in extra. ("Jeez, that Roy, he'll eat anything that's not nailed down, you'd rather keep him for a week than a fortnight", etc etc)

[Roy S]

By now I think all these Caribbean resorts will know you well and will have bought in extra. ("Jeez, that Roy, he'll eat anything that's not nailed down, you'd rather keep him for a week than a fortnight", etc etc)

It’s the sweet stuff that I over indulge in, barely touch it at home but can’t get enough of it when away (and the cakes…). Banana bread is a new discovery, delicious).

[struth]

It’s the sweet stuff that I over indulge in, barely touch it at home but can’t get enough of it when away (and the cakes…). Banana bread is a new discovery, delicious).

great stuff. i used to love it but being a lot dodgy on gluten ive inda gotta be careful. things like that do go for me

[Roy S]

Drinking buddy

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[Sherwood]

I was fortunate enough to spend much of 1989 working on a health sector review of four of the British Caribbean Dependent Territories as they were then called. Specifically, I spent a month in each of the following: Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The aim was to analyse the problems each territory faced in providing essential health care to their respective populations and to develop options for long term British Government support. It was a fascinating though challenging assignment. It was astonishing to me, at the time, how different from each other the islands were in terms of topology, ethnicity, culture, agriculture and not least cuisine.

Montserrat, a lush volcanic island (pre volcano) was like a modern Eden. Anything and everything seemed to grow in the rich volcanic soil. One specialty of the island was “mountain chicken” a frog so large its legs looked like drumsticks. I also recall their version of Irish Stew called goatwater. Monserrat contrasts starkly with the Turks and Caicos Islands. These are craggy coral islands with limited vegetation. In fact, the island was deliberately deforested to support the production of sea salt. However, what is misses out in terms of vegetation, it more than makes up for in exotic seafood: conch, grouper, lobster, crab and lionfish, often highly spiced and served with peas and rice.
Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands had already become ultra elite holiday destinations and their traditional cuisine had tended to be displaced by International Gourmet styles. However, the British Virgin Islands produced a tasty dish called fish and fungi, containing okra and cornflour. In Aguilla, pigeon peas and rice is a favourite, typically served with spicy fish, chicken or meat.

One of the great joys of travel for me was the opportunity to try out new foods and cuisines. Unfortunately, I have to take my pleasures vicariously these days.

[Macca]

I had a helicopter flight over Monserrat - in the Magnum P.I helicopter (not the actual one but the same type).

The eruption totally obliterated the original airport. Lava ran all over it. All that's left is one runway marker.

Barbuda was the most amazing of the islands I have been to. Remote, very few people there. It did have a 'Four Seasons' but it was destroyed in a hurricane a couple of years after opening, and they never rebuilt it.

Proper wild paradise island, like in 'Robinson Crusoe.'

[Sherwood]

I had a helicopter flight over Monserrat - in the Magnum P.I helicopter (not the actual one but the same type).

The eruption totally obliterated the original airport. Lava ran all over it. All that's left is one runway marker.

Barbuda was the most amazing of the islands I have been to. Remote, very few people there. It did have a 'Four Seasons' but it was destroyed in a hurricane a couple of years after opening, and they never rebuilt it.

Proper wild paradise island, like in 'Robinson Crusoe.'

Montserrat was very unfortunate. Just after our mission it was hit by Hurricane Hugo, and not long after that the volcano erupted. A newly refurbished general hospital ended up under 12 feet of volcanic Ash.

I have photos somewhere of a hike I made to what was then called the Soufriere, a foul smelling sulphur pool that was the emission point of the "dormant" volcano.

In the 80s it was a real jet set location. George Martin had his recording studio there (built in the 70s), and was actually staying in the same hotel as me (The Vue Pointe) for much of my stay. I would nod to him over breakfast, but resisted the huge temptation to approach him and talk music. His recording studios were used by McCartney (Wings), Sting (Police) Elton John, Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones and the hotel had countless photos of all the celebs who stayed there whilst recording. Midge Ure had a colonial style house on the Island and I played darts with him over a few beers in the Green Iguana bar one night.

I did not do the helicopter trip but did spend some time up in the hills.

[Pigmy Pony]

Drinking buddy

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Does your missus know you've been out boozing with some bird?

[Roy S]

Does your missus know you've been out boozing with some bird?

[emoji846] will tell you the Torquay story one day…

Sunset

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[Roy S]

Dinner venue

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View from the table

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Sandals take on an old English pub

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[Pigmy Pony]

Dinner venue

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View from the table

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Sandals take on an old English pub

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Yes, an old English pub the day after the smoking ban kicked in. Smokers staying at home, and non smokers staying home too because they thought the smoking ban was just a myth and weren't that fussed about pubs anyway.

Bet that place gets some pretty upmarket pub brawls too: "I say old chap, would you mind terribly not gazing upon my intended in that lewd fashion, or we may have to settle the matter with some fisticuffs. Queensbury rules obviously".

Apart from that it looks lovely, with a top notch selection of spirits and craft beers :)

[Macca]

If you go back there ten years from now it will be a mosque.

[struth]

looks more olde english than most english pubs tbh.... not that i frequent such places, ... he says smugly after a lifetime of boozing:eek:
not been in a pub since the wife died, and very rarely in the last 10 yrs of her life. i made up for it in my formative years when i basically lived in the pub:(

[Pigmy Pony]

looks more olde english than most english pubs tbh.... not that i frequent such places, ... he says smugly after a lifetime of boozing:eek:
not been in a pub since the wife died, and very rarely in the last 10 yrs of her life. i made up for it in my formative years when i basically lived in the pub:(

You're not missing much Grant.

These days 'proper' pubs:

(a) don't smell of food cooking
(b) don't have screaming kids running around
(c) are usually boarded up

Often the 'proper' pub looks so dilapidated it's hard to tell if it's still open, and the little old bloke having a fag in the doorway is the only sign.